Pension reform and strike: here is the (very busy) social calendar for January

The SNCF strike has never been so long, and the social situation seems frozen for at least a few more days. While the social conflict, which also concerns the RATP, refineries and the liberal professions, entered this January 2 in its 29th day, an historic record of length, negotiations between government and unions will not resume until next Tuesday. Calls to demonstrate or to strike were also launched for the coming days.

In this context, here is what to remember from the social calendar for the month of January, which should end with the presentation of the bill in the Council of Ministers.

As of this Friday , January 3 , the SOS Retraites collective, which brings together 16 liberal professions with autonomous regimes (liberal nurses, speech therapists, lawyers, physiotherapists, accountants, etc.), in turn calls for a strike. On the other hand - good news for the government over this period - the SNPL, the majority pilots' union in France, announced on December 27 the lifting of its strike notice scheduled for January 3, because of the "significant advances" obtained.

Monday, January 6 , it is the turn of the lawyers of the Lyon bar to call a “total and general” strike to protest against the reform of their own pension plan. Then, from Tuesday January 7 to Friday January 10 , the CGT Federation of Chemistry calls to accentuate the blockage in refineries. For the moment, only the Grandpuits site (Seine-et-Marne) is completely blocked, and no more trucks filled with this fuel have been out since December 5.

The official resumption of negotiations will take place this same Tuesday, January 7 . If some informal contacts between the government and the unions were not broken during the Christmas holidays, that day will be the return of physical and media consultations. Several ministers concerned by the pension reform project, including Muriel Pénicaud, Agnès Buzyn, and Laurent Pietraszewski, will receive the social partners in their respective ministries for several days. During his New Year's greetings on December 31, Emmanuel Macron also asked the government to find a "quick compromise". This same January 7, a debate on the pension reform will take place in the Senate.

This should not prevent the organization of a new big demonstration, Thursday, January 9 . This was announced on December 18 by Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT, joined by Force Ouvrière, CFE-CGC, Solidaires and FSU. On the other hand, and contrary to the last day of mobilization in the street of December 17, the CFDT did not join this new call to demonstrate. The number of demonstrators should still depend, in part, on the progress of negotiations on January 7 and 8, the day before and the day before.

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Consultations with the government will continue anyway during the week of January 13 to 20 , in particular to discuss possible specifics of the future pension plan for certain professions.

The reform bill should be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday January 22 , as indicated by Édouard Philippe as of December 11. The text should then be discussed in the National Assembly from the end of February. Emmanuel Macron hammered on December 31 on television that the reform "will come to an end".

VIDEO. Emmanuel Macron: "The pension reform will be completed"